Determinants of nonlife insurance market attractiveness for foreign investments: Eastern European evidence

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate factors that influence the attractiveness of nonlife insurance market for foreign insurers in Eastern Europe. We use country-specific effects models for panel data that covers fifteen countries during the period 2004-2009, allowing each cross-sectional unit to have a different intercept term serving as an unobserved variable that is potentially correlated with the observed regressors. The research results indicate that the main forces affecting market attractiveness are insurance demand, entry barriers, market concentration and the return on investment. These findings provide significant implications for local governments and for both foreign and domestic insurers.